8 Mar 2011

Obama to restart Guantanamo military commissions

US President Barack Obama is lifting the two-year freeze on new military trials for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Mr Obama also announced a new process for continuing to hold those detainees not charged or convicted but deemed too dangerous to free.

Guantanamo military commission

He said the measures would "broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice". Mr Obama had pledged in January 2009 to close the prison within a year.

"The American system of justice is a key part of our arsenal in the war against al-Qaeda and its affiliates," Mr Obama said in a statement.

Full article on BBC News

7 Mar 2011

David Halpin gives a presentation

David Halpin talks about the roots of Zionism, the injustices forced upon the peoples of Palestine, the assassination of Dr. David Kelly and the propaganda arm of the government, the BBC.

Filmed by BBC5.tv at the Totnes Truth Festival, 2nd of May 2010. Also see The Website of David Halpin

Alleged Us-Ussr Landing On Mars Using Alien Technology

This grainy old film supposedly documents an alleged landing on Mars on May 22nd 1962 by a joint US, and USSR exploration team using alien technology. At 48sec there is what looks like a flyover of the much talked about "glass tubes". If you have a look at "The Disclosure Project May 9th 2001 National Press Club Conference" you will hear testimony from whistle blowers that makes the whole thing seem absolutely possible.

Our Galactic Neighbours

America Is Not Broke

Speech delivered by Michael Moore at Wisconsin Capitol in Madison, March 5, 2011

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich. More on The Huffington Post

Evidence of Alien Life

We are not alone in the universe, says NASA astrobiologist Dr. Richard B. Hoover. And he claims to have the extra-terrestrial fossils to back it up.

Aliens exist, and we have proof.

Bacteria-in-Meteorites

That astonishingly awesome claim comes from Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, who says he has found conclusive evidence of alien life — fossils of bacteria found in an extremely rare class of meteorite called CI1 carbonaceous chondrites. (There are only nine such meteorites on planet Earth.) Hoover’s findings were published late Friday night in the Journal of Cosmology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“I interpret it as indicating that life is more broadly distributed than restricted strictly to the planet earth,” Hoover, who has spent more than 10 years studying meteorites around the world, told FoxNews.com in an interview. “This field of study has just barely been touched — because quite frankly, a great many scientist would say that this is impossible.”

Hoover discovered the fossils by breaking apart the CI1 meteorite, and analyzing the exposed rock with a scanning-electron microscope and a field emission electron-scanning microscope, which allowed him to detect any fossil remains. What he found were fossils of micro-organisms, many of which he says are strikingly similar to those found on our own planet.

Digital Trends

Brit held with SAS in Libya was spy

The British "diplomat" captured in Libya along with seven special forces soldiers was a Bond-style MI6 spy, The Sun can reveal.

libya-mi6

He and his SAS team were released last night, 72 hours after a secret mission to make contact with rebel leaders went badly wrong. Angry questions were being asked about alleged intelligence failures that forced them to surrender when surrounded and "suicidally outnumbered" by militia.

Despite Government claims it sent a "small diplomatic team", The Sun can reveal it was an MI6 secret agent and his special forces minders. Their job was to contact opponents of Libyan tyrant Colonel Gaddafi after intelligence reports that the rebels were open to talks.

More on The Sun

6 Mar 2011

The Truth About the Middle East Revolutions

David Icke

Eight SAS Soldiers Taken Hostage By Libyan Rebels

Rebel sources told Sky News that eight UK SAS Soldiers were being held in Libya's second city in Benghazi.

The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office have neither confirmed or denied the report but Defence Secretary Liam Fox has confirmed that a "small diplomatic team" is in Benghazi to talk to Libyan rebels.

sas-north-africa

According to the Sky sources the eight SAS members were among a group of around 22 soldiers and one diplomat believed to have been dropped by helicopter in an area south of the city.

More on Sky News

11 Sep 2009 - For the past six months Britain’s elite troops have been schooling soldiers working for Col Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. The Telegraph

Saudi Arabia bans protest rallies

Saudi Arabia has banned all protests and marches following recent anti-government protests in the kingdom’s east, reports say. State television on Saturday quoted the interior ministry as saying that security forces would use all measures to prevent any attempt to disrupt public order.

Saudi Arabia was yesterday drafting up to 10,000 security personnel into its north-eastern Shia Muslim provinces, clogging the highways into Dammam and other cities with busloads of troops in fear of next week's "day of rage" by what is now called the "Hunayn Revolution".

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Saudi Arabia's worst nightmare – the arrival of the new Arab awakening of rebellion and insurrection in the kingdom – is now casting its long shadow over the House of Saud. Provoked by the Shia majority uprising in the neighbouring Sunni-dominated island of Bahrain, where protesters are calling for the overthrow of the ruling al-Khalifa family, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is widely reported to have told the Bahraini authorities that if they do not crush their Shia revolt, his own forces will.

According to The Independent, a British newspaper, 10,000 security personnel are being sent to the region by road, clogging highways into Dammam and other cities.

A restive Shia population has staged a series of protests in the kingdom’s east in the past weeks. Their grievances range from lack of equal economic and employment opportunities to detentions without trial.

Full article on Al Jazeera – The Independent

5 Mar 2011

Christian mob surrounds Muslim man outside the White House

US Conservative media and particularly Fox News has been keen in months past to gin up stories about Islamic tribal laws being implemented across the United States. While this is in fact not happening anywhere in the US, it has become a point of intense concern to some religious fundamentalist Christians, who take the media spin seriously.

In this video, a group of anti-Muslim protesters take their concerns about Sharia law to the White House, only to find a Muslim man in prayer. They begin shouting, insulting him and cursing Islam, and one man even threatens his life. Later, as the Muslim man bowed again in prayer, the protesters begin praying back at him, uttering Christian chants in response.

At the end, a woman who claimed to have spent years in the Middle East informed the protesters that while they mocked him, the man had prayed in Arabic that each of their families be blessed.

Raw Replay (The Raw Story)

Daily Star reporter quits in protest at tabloid's 'anti-Muslim' coverage

Daily-Star-001dailystar2

The Daily Star has been accused of printing fictional stories by a disgruntled reporter who has resigned over its "hatemongering" anti-Muslim propaganda. In a resignation letter, Richard Peppiatt said he was leaving after the Star gave sympathetic coverage to the far-right English Defence League last month.

Peppiatt admits producing a number of fictional stories about celebrities during his two years at the tabloid, a practice he implies was sanctioned by his seniors. The reporter, who was once made to dress up in a burqa, now accuses the paper of inciting racial tensions and Islamaphobia. "You may have heard the phrase 'the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil sets off a tornado in Texas',"

More on The Guardian

4 Mar 2011

Dutch Queen to visit sultan of Oman for private dinner

The royal family will pay a short visit to Oman after all next week, foreign affairs minister Uri Rosenthal told MPs on Friday, Nos television reports.

qaboos-bin-said

Queen Beatrix, crown prince Willem-Alexander and princess Maxima will attend a private dinner with sultan Qaboos, the minister said. The formal state visit and trade promotion tour was postponed earlier this week because of political unrest in the Gulf state. After the dinner, the royal party will travel on to Qatar for a three day visit

DutchNews.nl - Human rights in Oman

UPDATE:

Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said has replaced two ministers, after protests erupted demanding reforms and an end to corruption in the Gulf state, state media has reported. Demonstrators have urged the sultan to dismiss all government ministers and have them investigated for any illegal activities.

Meanwhile, protests in the country have spread to a key oil region, Haima, with oil workers staging a sit-in in the area about 500km southwest of the capital Muscat. The oil workers are calling for more government investment in the area, a government official told the Associated Press. Demonstrations flared last week, with protesters seeking jobs and a greater political voice. One demonstrator was killed.

Al Jazeera

"Zombie" Ants Found With New Mind-Control Fungi

zombie-fungus

A stalk of the newfound fungus species Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani, grows out of a "zombie" ant's head in a Brazilian rain forest. Originally thought to be a single species, called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the fungus is actually four distinct species—all of which can "mind control" ants—scientists announced Wednesday.

The fungus species can infect an ant, take over its brain, and then kill the insect once it moves to a location ideal for the fungi to grow and spread their spores.

(Related pictures) - National Geographic Society

Bradley Manning Jailed Naked For 7 Hours; 22 New Charges Filed

manning

PFC Manning was forced to strip naked in his cell again last night. As with the previous evening, Quantico Brig guards required him to surrender all of his clothing. PFC Manning then walked back to his bed, and spent the next seven hours in humiliation.
The decision to require him to be stripped of all clothing was made by the Brig commander, Chief Warrant Officer-2 Denise Barnes. According to First Lieutenant Brian Villard, a Marine spokesman, the decision was "not punitive" and done in accordance with Brig rules. There can be no conceivable justification for requiring a soldier to surrender all his clothing, remain naked in his cell for seven hours, and then stand at attention the subsequent morning. This treatment is even more degrading considering that PFC Manning is being monitored -- both by direct observation and by video -- at all times. The defense was informed by Brig officials that the decision to strip PFC Manning of all his clothing was made without consulting any of the Brig's mental health providers. Army Court-Martial Defense Specialist

Bradley Manning Support Network

Star Size Comparison

3 Mar 2011

Bradley Manning may face death penalty

Bradley Manning, the US soldier who has spent 10 months in solitary confinement on suspicion of having transmitted a huge trove of state secrets to WikiLeaks, now faces a possible death penalty.

The intelligence specialist, who is being held in the maximum security jail on Quantico marine base in Virginia, has been handed 22 additional military charges as part of his court martial process.

bradley-manning-2

They come on top of initial charges of having illegally obtained 150,000 secret US government cables and handing more than 50 of them to an unauthorised person that carried a possible sentence of up to 52 years in prison. Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, said that the most serious of the new charges was the Article 104 offence of "aiding the enemy". The charge carries a potential death sentence.

The Guardian and Bradley Manning Support Network

Rights groups accuse Kenya of patient abuse

Kenya is breaking an international convention on the treatment of disabled people, according to human rights groups.

kenya

In an open letter to Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki, the Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry demanded action after a CNN documentary highlighted problems in the country's decaying mental health system. Tina Minkowitz, president of the group, wrote that the documentary ""Locked Up and Forgotten" revealed that people with mental (psychosocial) and intellectual disabilities are being forced to live in conditions that violate their human rights."

CNN.com

2 Mar 2011

G20: The Untold Stories

You Should Have Stayed At Home

They were the most unlikely of troublemakers. There were thousands of ordinary citizens on the streets at Toronto G20 Summit marching peacefully until the police closed in and shut them down. Many had gone downtown simply to see what was going on, only to find themselves forcibly dragged away by police and locked up for hours in a makeshift detention center without timely access to lawyers or medical treatment.

the fifth estate

Pope finds Jews not to blame for death of Jesus

The pope has written a detailed and personal repudiation of the idea that the Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus.

Hasidic_Jesus

In a book to be published next week, he concludes that those responsible for the crucifixion were the "Temple aristocracy" and supporters of the rebel Barabbas. Dismissing the centuries-old interpretation of St John's assertion that it was "the Jews" who demanded Barabbas's release and Jesus's execution, the pontiff asks: "How could the whole people have been present at this moment to clamour for Jesus's death?"

The notion of collective Jewish guilt, which bedevilled relations between the two faiths, was disowned by the Roman Catholic church at the second Vatican council in 1965. But this is thought to be the first time a pope has carried out such a detailed, theological demolition of the concept.

More on guardian.co.uk

Gaddafi recruits Tuareg fighters

Hundreds of young Malians and Nigeriens from the nomadic Touareg community, including former rebels, are being recruited by Libyan leader Gaddafi to fight the popular uprising in his country. "We are worried in many respects," said an official of the Regional Assembly of Kidal in Northern Mali. These young people "are going in masses to Libya. It's very dangerous for us because there will be an impact for our region."

toeareg

He said regional authorities are trying to convince them not to leave, particularly ex-rebels. But this was not easy as there were "dollars and weapons" waiting for them.
Assalat said an entire network was in place to organise the trip to Libya. "Gaddafi's reach stretches to us. He knows who to call, they make group trips. There seems to be an air link from Chad. Others go by road to southern Libya. All of that scares me, really, because one day they will come back with the same arms to destabilise the Sahel," said the official.  Radio Netherlands Worldwide

More about Tuareg people on Wikipedia

Past medical testing on humans revealed

Shocking as it may seem, U.S. government doctors once thought it was fine to experiment on disabled people and prison inmates. Such experiments included giving hepatitis to mental patients in Connecticut, squirting a pandemic flu virus up the noses of prisoners in Maryland, and injecting cancer cells into chronically ill people at a New York hospital.

prison-human-experiments

Much of this horrific history is 40 to 80 years old, but it is the backdrop for a meeting in Washington this week by a presidential bioethics commission. The meeting was triggered by the government's apology last fall for federal doctors infecting prisoners and mental patients in Guatemala with syphilis 65 years ago.

U.S. officials also acknowledged there had been dozens of similar experiments in the United States — studies that often involved making healthy people sick.

An exhaustive review by The Associated Press of medical journal reports and decades-old press clippings found more than 40 such studies. At best, these were a search for lifesaving treatments; at worst, some amounted to curiosity-satisfying experiments that hurt people but provided no useful results.

Much more on Yahoo! News / AP and Mail Online

US UK, French forces land in Libya

The United States, Britain and France have sent several hundred “defence advisors” to train and support the anti-Gadhafi forces in oil-rich Eastern Libya where “rebels armed groups” have apparently taken over.
According to an exclusive report confirmed by a Libyan diplomat in the region “the three Western states have landed their “special forces troops in Cyrinacia and are now setting up their bases and training centres” to reinforce the rebel forces who are resisting pro-Qaddafi forces in several adjoining areas.

foreign-legion
A Libyan official who requested not to be identified said that the U.S. and British military gurus were sent on February 23 and 24 night through American and French warships and small naval boats off Libyan ports of Benghazi and Tobruk.
The Western forces are reportedly preparing to set-up training bases for local militias set-up by the rebel forces for an effective control of the oil-rich region and counter any push by pro- Qaddafi forces from Tripoli.
Other reports claim that efforts to “neutralize” the Libyan Air Force were also underway to limit Qaddafi’s rule in Tripoli if not fully uprooted from the country.

Pakistan Observer

ISLAMIC-INTELLIGENCE for an other view…

1 Mar 2011

Tony Blair agreed to train Gaddafi’s special forces in 'deal in the desert’

A copy of the accord obtained by The Daily Telegraph shows that the two leaders agreed to co-operate on defence matters in a range of areas, including exchanging information about defence structures and technology.

It was signed during the former Labour prime minister’s “Blair-well” tour of Africa in May 2007, in Gaddafi’s tent in the Libyan desert.

Blair-and-Gadaffi

Included in the document was an agreement on “co-operation in the training of specialised military units, special forces and border security units”. They also signed up to “exchanges of information on Nato and EU military and civil security organisations”. The document was personally signed by Mr Blair and Gaddafi.

A passing reference to it was contained in a joint communiqué between the two countries, which was issued at the time and posted on the Foreign Office website before being removed a few weeks ago.

Telegraph

Iran threatens to boycott 2012 London Olympics because of logo

Iran is threatening to boycott the 2012 Olympic Games in London because of the Games' logo.

According to an Iranian official, the logo, with its blocky, abstract rendering of "2012," is racist because it appears to spell the word "Zion," a biblical term for Jerusalem, rather than 2012. Bahram Afsharzadeh, the secretary-general of Iran's National Olympic Committee, said via the official IRNA news agency that he sent a letter of complaint to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge.

london2012

"There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the games, especially Iran, which abides by commitment to the values and principles," Afsharzadeh said in the letter to Rogge, according to the Associated Press, and urged other Muslim states to protest as well.

The International Olympic Committee and London's organizing committee disagree. "Our response is as follows: The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else," the IOC said.

Washington Post

"My People Love Me"